A different sort of benefit cap

A report from Maharashtra, in India, explains that because of the late release of a government grant, women in their ninth month of pregnancy would not get the Rs 4000 that was supposed to be available to them. Women who entered the ninth month of pregnancy between April and September last year will be capped; to get the benefit, women would need to enter the ninth month after that date.

The rationale seems to be that the money is help women to be properly fed and not to have to do menial work during the final stages of pregnancy, and since the money wasn’t there in time, they can’t benefit from it. Unfortunately, it also means that women who had been counting on getting the money have been left high and dry, and can now do nothing to improve their situation. When it comes to arbitrary benefit rules, we have competition.